1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention generally relates to heat sinks, and more specifically, to demountable conducting heat sinks for electronic components containing semiconductor devices.
2. History of Related Art
In today's modern electronic industry, many of the electronic components generate excess heat which must be dissipated in some fashion. The dissipation of this excess heat is, typically, accomplished by attaching a heat sink to the electronic component. Heat sinks, which are relatively small in size, use some type of thermal adhesive for their attachment to the electronic component. Heat sinks, which are relatively large in size, use a demountable scheme having a thermal compound located between the heat sink and the electronic component. A typical demountable scheme may use, for example, a nut and bolt, or clip. Unfortunately, the types of demountable heat sinks currently used by the industry have several problems associated with them. First, it is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that whenever an electronic component is assembled using a solder column or solder ball attachment to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), a good thermal interface between the heat sink and the electronic component must be established. This is usually accomplished by applying force to the connection there between via a nut and bolt or clip. When excessive force is used in establishing the interface, damage to the solder ball or column may be occur. Secondly, many of the currently used heat sinks require the drilling of holes through the PCB in order to accommodate the nut and bolt attachment mechanism. This procedure unnecessarily complicates the routing of the various traces on the PCB, and in some cases, may result in a less desirable design. Thirdly, the methods currently used for demounting the heat sink, which has been attached to the electronic component using an adhesive, often results in damage to the heat sink, electronic component, and/or PCB.
It would, therefore, be a distinct advantage to have a demountable heat sink that would eliminate the concern of applying excessive force in establishing the interface between the heat sink and the electronic component, which would attach to the PCB without requiring the drilling of holes for the attachment, and which would be removable, and therefore re-usable, without damage to the heat sink, PCB, and/or electronic component.